Rotating Port Retaining Mechanism for Bilge Pump Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current bilge pump designs face challenges in accessing ports for cleaning or repair, with existing solutions either complicating assembly and disassembly or incurring additional costs due to breakage of retaining clips.
Innovation Solution
A quick attach and safe release arrangement featuring a tongue and flange or groove mechanism integrated into the pump chamber and ports, allowing for rotatable engagement and secure, fluid-tight connection, enabling easy removal and reconnection of inlet and outlet ports without alignment requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If ports are moulded to the pump chamber, then the structure is simpler and more reliable, but it becomes difficult to access ports for cleaning or unblocking and requires entirely new units if damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The port is divided into two separate parts: a port body that can be removed and a port base that remains integrated with the pump chamber. This segmentation allows the port body to be easily detached for cleaning or replacement while maintaining the structural integrity of the pump chamber, resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and repair accessibility.
2Ease of repair
If ports are screwed onto the pump chamber, then ports are accessible for cleaning or repair, but the complexity of assembly and disassembly increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connection mechanism is segmented into a port body with retaining means and a port base with receiving means, eliminating the need for threaded connections. This simplifies the assembly process to a single snap-fit operation while maintaining easy accessibility for repair, resolving the contradiction between repair accessibility and assembly complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The port body is designed as a replaceable component that can be easily detached and replaced if damaged or clogged. This disposable approach to the port body eliminates the need for complex disassembly procedures while providing easy access for maintenance, resolving the contradiction between repair accessibility and device complexity.
3Ease of operation
If retaining clips are used to secure ports, then ports can be easily attached and detached, but the clips are known to break resulting in additional costs
Solution Approach 1:
The retaining clip is extracted from the design and replaced with integral retaining means formed as part of the port body and port base. This eliminates the separate retaining clip component that was prone to breaking, while maintaining the quick attachment and detachment functionality through the snap-fit mechanism between the port body and port base.
Solution Approach 2:
The retaining means are merged with the port body and port base structures, forming an integrated connection system. This merging eliminates the separate retaining clip component that was prone to failure, while maintaining the quick connect/disconnect capability through the integrated snap-fit mechanism, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A quick attach and safe release arrangement for a pump of the type in which a pump chamber has at least one chimney and at least one separable port locatable in the at least one chimney. The quick attach and safe release arrangement is provided with a cooperating retaining elements integrally formed with the at least one chimney and integrally formed with the at least one separable port respectively, for retaining the at least one separable port in within the at least one chimney. The at least one separable port and the at least one chimney are rotatable relative to one another and the cooperating retaining elements have a single port release position at a predetermined angular position of the at least one separable port relative to the at least one chimney.